Life on the Shrimp Farm Back Home in Thailand

Growing up in a shrimp farm family

When I was old enough to remember, my parents already had started a shrimp farming business. About 75% of farmed shrimp is produced mostly in Asia, particularly China and Thailand.

Black tiger shrimp, in my opinion is the easier option for the production. Most of the time there seems to be a stable market available for the black tiger shrimp no matter the size.  Even though the shrimp yields lower profit compared to the whiteleg shrimp (AKA Pacific white shrimp), it is definitely the better and more stable choice for farmers. Though the whiteleg shrimp may give the farmers more profit in the long run, its susceptibility too many diseases makes it very hard for the farmers to see that profit without intense management of the farm.

Black Tiger ShrimpWhiteleg Shrimp

Most farms are located close to the sea and have their own ‘treatment’ reservoir. The reservoir serves as a treatment and a ‘resting’ area for seawater that will be use for the farming process, which allows unwanted residues in the water to sink.  Meanwhile the pond intended to be use for farming, is treated and baked in the sun to kill off bacteria. The seawater is then filtered and transferred from the reservoir into the pond, ready for the shrimp to be farm.

In general, it takes about 3 months to culture the shrimp into their ideal size. It’s definitely easier said than done when trying to culture the shrimp. With the globally changing climates and diseases, sometimes a farmer would be lucky to break even with no disastrous loss.

Depending on the size of the shrimp, the manufacturing and processing factory will come to an agreeable price with the farmer, and then work on details of the harvesting procedure. In most cases, the factory will arrange for the harvesting personnel to ensure the shrimp conditions. The farmer/owner of the farm may also oversee in the harvesting process to make sure everything proceed smoothly. After the water inside the pond decreases to the ground level, it’s always enjoyable to trudge around in the mud picking up whatever is left inside the pond.

During the harvest, the weight of the shrimp collected is measured, recorded then tallied in the end. The shrimp will also be sorted into their respective size before transported to the factory. If there is a huge range in size of the shrimp harvested, then the factory and the farmer will try to come to an agreeable price for each size.